I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, write me on Facebook or just email at paultassi(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm also almost finished with my sci-fi novel series, The Earthborn Trilogy.

The One Twist in BioShock Infinite's Ending You Might Have Missed Completely

I’ve had a blast the past few days reading through the hundreds of comments on this post. In it, I spent 3,000 words discussing the mind-bending ending of the BioShock Infinite, and readers spent thousands more giving their own opinions on all the events that unfold in the finale.

There are discussions of metaphysics and time travel and multiverse theory and all sorts of things buried there. I highly suggest that you take a look at the full thread and learn a thing or two about the ending of the game people will be talking about for years.

There are many theories put forward that I could highlight, but there’s one in particular I wanted to focus on in a follow-up post. I haven’t had this much fun debating the end of a game since Mass Effect 3′s Indoctrination Theory, but this twist I believe was put in there on purpose, and is more than just a fan theory.

Here’s where the spoilers officially begin.

Many crazy things happen at the end of BioShock Infinite, but the final mind-warping sequence is kicked off by a surprise trip to Rapture, the underwater city from the original game.

While I was playing through BioShock Infinite, I thought it was strange that there were literally no references to Rapture or Andrew Ryan at all. Like, zero. Even if it wasn’t integrated into the plot, I thought perhaps I’d at least find a newspaper clipping lying around talking about that “other” unbelievable city, or some passing mention of a rivalry between Ryan and Comstock or something.

When you get to Rapture, Elizabeth explains it by saying it’s another possible universe. Okay, I thought, we’re simply playing in a different game universe accessed via lighthouse, and didn’t really think about it much past that.

What I failed to realize is what she really meant. That Rapture, and really all the events of the original BioShock are direct, alternate parallels of everything that happens in BioShock Infinite, right down to the characters themselves.

The proof that can’t be overlooked? In the original BioShock, it’s made expressly clear that only Andrew Ryan himself can operate the Bathyspheres in the city once they’re on lockdown. Part of the twist of that game as that you can also operate them, and you eventually discover than you, as Jack, are Andrew Ryan’s illegitimate son (or probable clone) which allows you to use them yourself.

In Infinite, you’re operating them once again.

The implication here is that DeWitt/Comstock is Jack/Andrew Ryan. Both was some version of the other, who goes on to kill their elder who has created a massive city as a tribute to their own ego. I even think that they do it the same way too. We are explicitly told that Booker enters Columbia from a parallel universe via the lighthouse, but we have to remember that Jack did the same thing. By entering through a lighthouse, that would also indicate he’s coming from another universe as well, right? Perhaps his plane crashed through a tear?

What else do we have if Jack is Booker and Andrew Ryan is Comstock? Well, we have the obvious idea that Rapture is Columbia, sunk under the ocean instead of floating above it. In this universe, things get a bit wonky, but the comparisons are still clear. Plasmids are Vigors, EVE is Salts. Taking it a step further, Atlas/Fontaine is Daisy Fitzroy, the blood thirsty working class hero/eventual psychopath who challenges Ryan/Comstock and leads to Rapture/Columbia’s downfall.

Dr. Lutece is Dr. Tenenbaum, looking after the little girls with magic powers. That would make Little Sisters fractured versions of Elizabeth, looked after by a multitude of Big Daddies, all condensed into the massive Songbird in Columbia. The brown hair, the nearly identically arranged blue and white clothes. It’s now impossible for me not to see Elizabeth in the Little Sisters. Their eyes are glowing yellow, but if I bet if that light faded, you’d see a sparkling pair of blue eyes staring back at you.

It all lines up almost perfectly, but is still hidden enough where most people (myself included) might not realize the full extent of the crossover until days later. It’s too well arranged not to have been crafted on purpose. Look at Elizabeth next to that Little Sister! How is something so obvious, yet so subtle at the same time? Well, because most of us were attempting to untangle the events of Infinite alone, a monumental task in itself. There really wasn’t time to make all these connections in the moment.

Many thanks to a few commenters for pointing out the Bathysphere genetic code item, which led to me attempting to unravel the rest of the parallels. I highly doubt I’m the first to do so, but if I can help blow some minds by spreading the theory, that works for me.

So, am I crazy or is this yet another purposefully planted piece of the already masterful plot?

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One thing that I cannot wrap my head around with the Andrew Ryan parallel is that the events of Bioshock 1 happened close to 1950. Infinite happened around 1912. If Ryan is Dewitt/Comstock, why the age difference? I know that Comstock himself aged faster (according to the Voxaphones) because of exposure to the quantum machines. However, even if he didn’t, that still wouldn’t put him young enough to look as young as Ryan did at the end of Bioshock 1.

Maybe Andrew Ryan found a way to stay younger. Or maybe, the Jack/Ryan counterparts were just born later in their universes.

Also, about what would cause him to become Ryan like he became Comstock:

Booker became Comstock because of the baptism. And that can be seen in every faucet of Columbia. So, what was Ryan’s motivation? He hated “the man.” The government, the church, etc. I have to wonder if some extreme event involving the completion of his original vision caused it not to happen. And since he was pushed back so hard by whoever, he said “Screw the man, I’m going to build it under the sea.” But, maybe that was after he was Ryan.

this is just a thought, but what if the baptism is what leads him to be Ryan by not taking it. kinda like if he takes it he will become Ryan, a person who basically rejects religion, versus taking the baptism and becoming someone who accepts religion and becomes Comstock. but then again, he was drowned because he didn’t take the baptism, so this theory may be wrong.

When they drown you in the river, the Booker DeWitt and the Z.H. Comstock timelines / universes dissapear. Instead, you are not dead, but in coma, and wake up few hours later at some point down the river. You don’t remember anything: No Elizabeth, no Anna, no Columbia, no Comstock…

You just go to the nearest city / town. You are 20ish in that moment, but the exposure to multiple universes and Vigors make you age slower. So we got a “new man” that starts a new life somewhere in the USA in 1890s; and since you don’t remember your name, you just pick a random name, Andrew Ryan (antagonist of Bioshock 1).

As long as you grow up, you learn, you study and you start remembering stuff about Columbia, and how bad the religion and the laws were for the city and the society. So in the 1940s you are about 80 but you look like 40-50. Somehow you start building a city underwater to escape the religion and the laws of modern society, while you remember Columbia.

Some years later, the city is finished, and it looks like a perfect utopia. But your megalomania soon causes the city to decline, and some rebels to appear (Atlas / Fontaine), they create somehow clone you and create Jack (protagonist of Bioshock 1) to stop you.

Then he kills you [Few years later the events of Bioshock 2 occur in the same place] But you got revived in a Vita-Chamber outside of the city, again with amnesia without remembering anything.

Because you don’t remember your name, you choose a random one, and bla, bla, bla, [Here would happen the events or Bioshock 3 or Bioshock Infinite 2 or whatever they call it, because I'm sure they won't stop making this fantastic series of games :D]

My current theory is that [An]drew Ryan is alternate multiverse [An]na DeWitt, not alternate universe Comstock/Booker. It’s well established in this cannon that there are infinite realities and we are simply dealing with the events of a handful of them. And it’s also established that the gender of a child is a variable (e.g. the Luteces). Perhaps in one reality Booker becomes Comstock and creates Columbia, but Rosalind never discovers tears, Comstock never becomes sterile from exposure, has a son (Andrew) to continue his legacy, Andrew becomes disgusted with his father’s legacy and decides to create his own, ergo Rapture.

Some other thoughts, Andrew Ryan is alternate multiverse Ayn Rand. Ryan also creates Objectivism, but unlike Rand actually has the finances to create an Objectivist utopia, as Ryan is the son of the seemingly infinitely wealthy Comstock. Rand was born in 1905, which fits somewhat with both of these stories.

You got a well thought out idea but your theory is wrong because after the credits in infinite it shows Booker in his “house” and he goes to the room and calls for anna, so what he did was drown the possibility of comstock which took removed the possibilities of tears so now there is only the reality of Booker and his baby anna

You must have missed the part at the end of the credits where DeWitt is back at his home and calls for Anna, and goes into the room where she is.

The Elizabeths did drown DeWitt, when he was supposed to become Comstock, thereby removing Comstock from existence, therefore there wasn’t the whole universe crossover thing where Comstock needs an heir.

RedDuke, When Booker gets drowned, Booker DeWitt universe doesn’t disappear, just the Comstock universe disappears, because the universe Booker rejects baptism still exists. You should wait till the end of credits and see what happens.

This would explain alot, If the post credits was a parallel universe where the comstock version never took anna ever again. WHICH MEANS. the booker that drowned and the booker that called out to anna in the end, are not the same person in the same parallel universe.

This is a good theory. This is another theory that I came up with. Though there are many out there. I believe that DeWitt/Comstock was drown and killed before he chose to have the baptism or not.

But! what people don’t think about is that fact that in other universes he didn’t go to the baptism at all. Doing this I believe that it won’t change Booker DeWitt since he never went to the baptism it’s the same as refusing it as if he was there.

Since he never went, he never met the crossroads to where Zachary Comstock could have been born. But! remember that if he did decide to go he would drown before he got to that crossroad.

So! Booker DeWitt will still be able to exist, which would explain the cut-scene after the credits, and Comstock will never exist, because the baptism will never happen.

If Booker is Andrew Ryan and created Rapture because he lost his memories/went into a coma etc after the murder/attempted murder by Elizabeth['s] than it wouldn’t have been possible for them to jump to a Rapture before the murder[?] happened.

This is because all of the alternate universe are created when a possible outcome occurs, so at the time when Booker first went to the baptismal after wounded knee two timelines were created: one where he went through with it and one where he didn’t. This happened well before we come in (obviously) and the timelines continue to split from there into the possible infinite number.

Now when the Elizabeths drown Booker at the end of the game this is the first time it has happened so at the moment the rapture timeline in you’re theory was created meaning it didn’t exist before when they were there.

It’s a weird time thing, they can only jump through time to timelines that have been created. Since Elizabeth can freely travel to any time in any timeline and can make decisions/ interact within them she can create branched timelines in past times.

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Booker’s life is straight until a fork in the road happens – the baptism. On one path you accept the baptism, change your name and become Comstock. On the other, you refuse and eventually sell Anna to Comstock (your other self in another dimension) or have her stolen. By having Elizabeth/Anna down you at the baptism, the Comstock path is killed off. No Columbia, no songbird, no Elizabeth. But if you watched after the credits – the refusal path remains. Booker lives and so does Anna, but she won’t ever be the Elizabeth you met in Columbia.

The Rapture reference is just another world where the same thing constantly happens. The setting/time is irrelevant. There is always a man in power (Ryan/Comstock) and there is always someone oppressed or being used (Little Sister/Elizabeth), and there is always someone trying to stop him (Jack/Booker.) The story will always continue but in this path of existence, it’s been stopped.

Booker doesn’t become Ryan, it’s just another world where the story is similar and the results can be the same.

Duke, the only problem with this theory is that one ages quicker with frequent transdimensional travel, not slower, hence Comstock’s aged appearance and sterility (he’s, in truth, no older than Booker).

One problem with your theory is that Ryan’s history draws you back to Russia. He was tired of the Bolshevik revolution and their Marxist-Leninist rhetoric and policies. The whole point of the story is that there’s always a time and place for a life shock/bio shock, where you always have a situation where there is a Jack/Booker and a Comstock/Ryan.

Well, you got some good points but Andrew Ryan was born in Russia and has a strong Russian accent. And if this is parallel universe they would probably have to be the same person. Even though they are dad and son. I think we have to look at this. At the end of bioshock and infinite. You always think that final bossfight is going to be the creator of the city – Comstock/Ryan but it never is. I wonder if booker is representing fontaine. May be but i dont really know.

No, if you read the totally canon Bioshock book, you would know that Andrew Ryan was the Americanized name Andrei Ryanofski, and that at the early age of 5 he and his father escaped Russia when the Bolshevik Party took over.

I feel that Booker DeWitt is Andrew Ryan and Anna DeWitt is Jack just because of the relationships that are between the four different people. Jack is supposedly Andrew’s son and Anna is Booker’s daughter.

If you have played through Bioshock Infinite it is pretty clearly laid out that Dewit and Comstock are the same person from alternate realities. At one point Comstock’s name was even “Booker DeWitt” before he changed it in order to start a new life.

Jack Ryan was only about 4-5 years old during the events of the original Bioshock which was set in 1960. During the game it is shown that he was artificially aged to his current full-grown stature at the same time he was implanted with false memories.

Andrew Ryan is shown to be a healthy man around 40 (his true age is never given) but that fits pretty closely with Booker Dewitt’s age of 38.

That is really good prediction… some how I feel like something is out of the place.

From your prediction, if Andrew Ryan was universe(timeline) was created after Elizabeth drowned Booker then how could Booker and Elizabeth went to Rapture before that timeline could ever started?

You understand what I try to explain right? The timeline that we play-through during game is to prevent Booker to become Comstock as this timeline has never happened before.. well until you finished the game.

(Say..If this timeline has already happened then Comstock would not be able to exist anymore and the timeline in game would never started).

Therefore, Rapture could not existed before Elizabeth drown him to Coma.

After I read your comments I went to google and compare their face… Well, I admitted that Andrew Ryan’s face is really similar to Booker’s lol~

One problem is that Ryan wouldn’t be the son of Comstock. Ryan was born in Russia as Andrei Rianofski and came to America after the revolution. He ended up a self made man and his fortune was his own, but I believe that the memories of Columbia and no version of his father (Booker) inspired him to create Rapture, which is just a “better” in his eyes Columbia. Oh and for everyone who doesn’t really get the whole Jack thing from Bioshock 1. At the end Ryan shows through his words and through the research on the board outside his office that Jack is the illegitimate son of Ryan and a women named Jasmine Jolene.

Your idea is cool but in a way flawed because when you are drowned, you do not wake up in the water, you completely erase the action taking the baptism, you wake up in your room.

All those dimensions of zachary comstock having a city in the air and booker dewitt atempting to get his baby back are non existent for you were killed before the baptism allowed the dimensions to occur, one being booker dewitt and the other becoming a new man and changing your name to zachary comstock.

With the knowledge that all dimensions have the same constants and variables Rapture, is like a parallel, with the same constants and variables. When jack enters the lighthouse in the beginning he enters the dimension of a city under water, (parallel to a city in the air). So he’s going into the dimension where a version of him already exist; Andrew Ryan.

So in essence bioshock 1 is parallel to bioshock infinite where you enter a dimension where you already exist and then you try to kill him.

1) Andrew Ryan was born in Russia and moved to the United States in 1919. 2) Ryan ordered for a secret construction of Rapture to get away from the world and all its impurities. He didn’t want the media or the public to find out about it. 3) The events of Bioshock 2 happen before Bioshock 1, approximately 1 year before. 4) Bioshock Infinite takes place in 1912. Try reading the Bioshock novel ‘Rapture’ it helps you understand who and what kind of person Andrew Ryan is and why he constructed Rapture, you also learn about other people on the way, like the Wales brothers, Simon and Daniel, you can thank them for the great design f Rapture. And the Setup of Bioshock Infinite is not meant to be aligning with Bioshock 1, it is just simply how the base of games are made, with those roles, its 2K games, so you would think that some similarity would be there. Bioshock 2 on the other hand was not entirely made by the same people and is expected to have some differences in the gaming and style but they did an amazing job and it was a great prequel.

That sounds interesting… But the part where Elizabeth drowns Booker I don’t think it’s correct. I believe that the universes with Elizabeth, Comstock, and everything else disappear after she drowns him and it returns to just Booker and Anna. I think it’s hinted at the end of the credits where Booker walks into what I assume to be Anna’s room. Anna is probably in the crib.

First let me say when dealing with a game so confusing and full of multiple universes everything must be put there for a reason. Although many people say that the game is up for interpretation that does not mean that the creative director (Ken Levine) did not have a specific answer in mind. Examples of this include David Lynch talking about how he has a specific intention for his movies although they break every boundary of reality possible. Christopher Nolan also said he had a specific ending in mind to the film Inception, but would never say what that was because then it removes the ambiguity and fanfare.

I think there is evidence of Booker not dieing when he is baptised as he enters Infinite. He is held underwater and see’s the Vision of someone knocking at his door. At the end of game after he is “drowned” by Anne/Elizabeth he has another Vison of Anne in the crib. This could symbolize the start of something new and that Booker is not dead.

Well, except that that doesn’t make sense. Booker had to have been at least in his late 30s to have a daughter as old as she was. The great thing about Bioshock Infinite is that it is a continuation and conclusion and prequel all at the same time. I think Irrational should quit while they’re ahead. I don’t see how it’s possible to top this. I mean, I knew the twist (partially) going into the game, and it still boggled my mind.

Also from an update in the comments: - According to the tallies of heads flipped on the chalkboard, Booker (our Booker) is the 122nd Booker to try this. And the chime sequence at the lighthouse, at the start? 122. One right, then two, then two.

“By entering through a lighthouse, that would also indicate he’s coming from another universe as well, right? Perhaps his plane crashed through a tear?”

I would say, that no Jack didn’t enter through a tear, in that timeline, no tears existed. Dr. Lutece doesnt research them, Elizabeth(in this timeline little sisters) doesn’t have “tear powers” but all the same the “major” events happen. Since tears don’t exist in this possible timeline, Ryan has to have a son(Jack).

The Bioshock one timeline is the “result” of a world with out “tears”, yet still it must be a parallel universe so it struggles to find a way. i.e. what you explained above.

If Jack is really Ryan’s son, then couldn’t Ryan be Booker or Elizabeth’s son (depending on how long after, not sure if he could be Elizabeth’s son)? That’s a simpler, more linear way of looking at all of it that people seem to be overlooking because it’s so simple.

I think that this isnt true. The Lutece’s “died” thru that tear accident making them able to exist across all of time and space. I think perhaps they now exist independently of any events, including the timeline in this game.

So with that in mind, perhaps Andrew Ryan has no relation to Dewitt at all, but perhaps his creation of Rapture was influenced by a variation of the Luteces that we never saw?

Besides, another consideration is that the Luteces were studying tears and multiple universes before they met Comstock or went to Columbia. Theoretically they would exist still in the new Comstock-less universe and perhaps thru other paths have come to the eventual same technological conclusion ?

They probably where studying the tears in their own parallel worlds but I get the impression the Lutece’s were not able to be together till Comstock in his reality funded the research that allowed them to be united. I get the impression that the Lutece’s are the same person the male and female version from different parallel worlds.

So I beat it last night, my mind was kinda blown. So, I looked up bioshock infinite ending to clarify some stuff. THANK YOU FOR POSTING THESE ARTICLES. Especially this one, I’m not sure if that’s what Levine intended, but this comparison totally works.

SIDE NOTE: There are two things I want to know more about: Songbird and did Dewitt have a wife? Are there any voxophones with this info on them? I love the premise of Songbird, but it’s background is totally ambiguous prior to Elizabeth in the tower.

Also “The proof that can’t be overlooked? In the original BioShock, it’s made expressly clear that only Andrew Ryan himself can operate the Bathyspheres in the city once they’re on lockdown. Part of the twist of that game as that you can also operate them, and you eventually discover than you, as Jack, are Andrew Ryan’s illegitimate son (or probable clone) which allows you to use them yourself.”

There is a audio message in Bioshock 1 explaining how the bathysphere/vita chambers can be used by anyone in Andrew Ryans “genetic ballpark” so I don’t think that gives your argument any more traction.

Don’t quote me on this but I believe that there is a log talking about things in rapture that seems like it is simply talking about an alternate Columbia.

This log is by the person who creates the Handymen, who talks about seeing someone creating a man / machine hybrid. at first I though it was probably someone making a handyman but now I think it was someone creating a big daddy.

the other thing that I want to bring up is that no one has made a link to Bioshock 2 which effectively has the same story line as infinite. Based on the idea that Jack is Ryan from a alternate universe and that they can effectively be DeWitt from another timeline and universe then it stands to reason that Subject delta is again another variation of them who has be mutilated into a big daddy and the Eleanor is another Elizabeth . (YS I know that delta is not the real father of Eleanor in bioshock 2 but I thought it was worth a speculation)

Also, Dr. Lamb (relative of Eleanor) smothers her to sever her connection with Delta, and Elizabeth (relative of Booker, just the other direction) drowns Booker to prevent him from ever becoming Comstock or giving her up to him

There’s also a recording which discusses the music coming through the tears, which Albert Fink is transcribing, which mentions a “biologist” Jeremiah Fink is also watching – which makes it pretty clear that the vigors do not just resemble plasmids, but actually are plasmids, which Fink has copied from Rapture.

(Which also might explain why everything is so messed up in the Rehabilitation Centre future, and why the inmates are wearing masks – because they are splicers.)

Bioshock 2 was made by a completely different creative group than Bioshock or Bioshock Infinite. Ken Levine had no creative presence in the narrative of Bioshock 2 – it may as well be a different series, and it has no bearing on the authentic “Bioshock” universe. Hope this helps, Toby! :)

Subject Delta from Bioshock2 was a deep sea diver captured by Ryan after stumbling upon Rapture during a dive. I can’t recall his name at the moment as it has been a while since I played the game, but it is not Booker DeWitt. After being taken prisoner to prevent his revealing the existence of Rapture to the world, he was then sent to the Big Daddy development program. He was the first successful prototype from the project to live and be bonded to the Little Sister that eventually went on to become Elanor. This backstory is reveled through the audio logs found around Rapture during story mode.

That doesn’t prove that these are the same people at play between Columbia and Rapture. It just merely suggests that cybernetic guardians exist across the similar multiverses as a variable. There is absolutely no evidence that Booker is Ryan, nor that Fink took designs from Yi Suchong, And there is certainly no basis that a single shrieking noise during the Sander Cohen chapter of Bioshock 1 was Songbird – something else floating around the internet. Tassi is completely wrong in his hypothesis because nowhere in Bioshock is there any evidence that states that only Andrew Ryan and Jack are permitted to work the bathyspheres.

I disagree guys. I think the devs never meant for this interpretation. I do agree that they would probably welcome it though as it adds to the mystery and complexity.

I believe the devs simply meant for us to interpret it the way it was described by Elizabeth. There are constants and variables and an infinite number of realities. There is always a man and a lighthouse. But they aren’t from the same man and lighthouse from the same time line or even relatives of each other. They are some how parallel though and the man may be within the same genetic ballpark (as required to operate the Bathysphere).

Now with that said, I think these are great ideas and I could see the devs using them for future games. But no, I don’t believe it was intentional.

I did pick up on that, but to make DeWitt be Ryan, you totally negate all of Andrew Ryan’s backstory.

Not to mention the “Marsha Audiolog” from BioShock 1, which mentions a couples’ daughter being kidnapped and turned into a little sister, which was common among Rapture with many little girls.

It’s obvious that a lot of last minute changes were made to Infinite, and I can’t help but wonder what the original plot was. Early gameplay showing things changing in real time (the hammer and sickle pin for example) seemed a lot more interesting IMO.

Don’t get me wrong, Infinite as great… I just wonder how much it was dumbed down in both gameplay and story. I fear the story might have been dumbed down to achieve that “oooh ahhh!” moment at the end that 8 year olds could comprehend. I have little evidence to support it, but it seems like the early gameplay dealt more with disturbances in the space / time continuum. String theory and all that is pretty complicated though, and Levine mentioned how much playtesting influenced the game.

This theory is actually bolstered by a line of dialogue near the end where Elizabeth and Booker are entering lighthouses. Elizabeth says something like “there’s always a man a city, a lighthouse…” That’s when I started drawing parallels to Rapture, but I near thought it might have been as in depth as this! I agree, it’s too perfect not to be on purpose.

But there is nothing to indicate that we are in the EXACT Rapture of the original Bioshock game. Only that we visit *a* Rapture. So while I do agree that there are obvious parallels between the characters and worlds of Columbia and Rapture – that is the entire point of the “constants and variables” philosophy of the game, it is a stretch to impose this “twist”. Perhaps in this Rapture, the bathysphere can be operated by anyone, either by design or malfunction. So no, Booker does not necessarily have to be a genetic match for Jack/Andrew Ryan. Sorry.

There is some possibly strong symbolism there in Rapture when Elizabeth and Booker go there, in the back ground there is a Little Sister tending to a Big Daddy. In the context of there always being a light house, then an Elizabeth is always tending to Booker.

While it would be impossible to prove that we’re in the EXACT Rapture of the original game, I think it’s *extremely* telling that the designers chose to put up posters about the bathyspheres being on lockdown. In the original game anyone could use the bathyspheres normally, but during a lockdown they were only usable by Andrew Ryan and his relatives.

If players weren’t intended to draw this parallel, why would the developers put in such a specific reference to a minor plot element from the first game? There are a million more recognizable concepts they could’ve slapped on a poster, ones that would be easier to think of, but they chose that obscure reference. I’d argue they chose it for a reason.

Anyone can use Bathyospheres. they are the primary form of transport in Rapture. And how everyone gets down to it. Vitachambers, which were the mechanic for making clones and saving. were andrew ryan (and family) only.

Personally i agree with you 100%. The parallelism in the games plot is uncanny and in a way it all makes sense Booker being Jack just in a different universe sounds quiet simple but also builds a much clearer perspective to the complex idea of multiverse; of a man stepping into a lighthouse and finds himself in a troubled place in a crazy uncharted environment. also in a way this is am not sure so don’t attack me if you think im wrong.. i think Subject Delta and Eleanor from bioshock 2 although more forgettable then bioshock 1 and infinite also have a part in this. think about it, while Booker can be Jack he could also easily be Subject Delta trying to save his “daughter” (Eleanor) just like Booker tries to save his (Elizabeth/Anna). All in all this is just a thought that was going on in my head and i just had to let it out because i truly think there is something to do this. PS. don’t mind the unorganized writing as it is clear to you all im not a writer..

I’m afraid that as interesting as this theory is, I think the ties that link the two games together are aesthetic allusions and not real narrative connections. The fact that Rapture was built decades after Columbia is unavoidable, as is the fact that Andrew Ryan and Dewitt/Comstock differ greatly in age, with both being being roughly between 40 to 50 with a gap of 50 years in the narrative. Obviously the whole time/space confusion could explain why there is such a large time lapse but this would seem a clumsy attempt at making all their games exist within the same universe. I find it hard to believe that something happened to Booker that made him become a strict libertarian tyrant, and struggle even further to understand why he’d bother adopting an English accent.

The ‘little details’ change. The motivations. The time period. Even the people. But there’s always a man and a lighthouse and a rescue. This revelation coming just after having visited a city first seen by a man who swam to a lighthouse… parallel universes, infinite possibilities – these aren’t just nods and winks to fans of the series, it’s the final mindscrew of the game.

It wasn’t, “a clumsy attempt at making all their games exist within the same universe,” but a statement to the contrary – they exist in different universes with key similarities. The post-credits scene shows that Booker ends up living with his daughter in the time period of the game, so maybe, in this universe, there is no Columbia. That wouldn’t stop someone from developing an underwater city in the future, making Bioshock Infinite a prequel in more ways than one. There’s always a lighthouse.

My interpretation of the visit to Rapture was that it was indeed a journey through time and space, and that having such a wonderful previously created world it was indeed a mere allusion to the original Bioshock and not an attempt to link the two games together as being the same characters involved in the same narrative. I acknowledge that the events of Infinite do not stop the events of Bioshock take place, but it is not Booker Dewitt becoming Andrew Ryan.

Like the amounts of universes, there are infinite takes on this so I guess it’s a mere matter of opinion in a lot of senses.

They aren’t the same characters. It’s a different man with a different dream, but there are ‘constants’ regardless of when the story takes place. After the events of Bioshock Infinite, the game’s story effectively never takes place. Booker never goes to Columbia, nor does he end up creating it. He lives with his daughter. Andrew Ryan comes to prominence later.

Dewitt became Comstock in an effort to “absolve his sins” with baptism, one of the audio logs says that for you “one man goes into the waters of baptism, another man comes out staring back at the other drowning in the holy water”. Comstock/Dewitt is also a paradox, one knows the powers of his daughter & fears them as well as his own demise & keeps her locked away for that purpose, the other was called by the daughter to set her free & allow her to complete the eternal loop. Also leaves room to speculate, what if a ruined Colombia fell into the sea near the lighthouse after the events of it’s demise & Ryan found it & restored it underwater?

They went to Rapture at the end because Elizabeth, with the full extent of her godlike powers, simply willed them to be somewhere that would make Booker and herself safe and Songbird dead. Songbird’s eye cracked earlier when he tried to get into water.

I would say that the genetic lock on the bathyspheres isn’t relevant – Rapture clearly isn’t the messed up place it is in Bioshock, meaning that this is just a safe place that will give Booker and Elizabeth a means to an end, namely heading for the titular ‘infinite’ possibilities with the lighthouse as an example of that.

To be honest, I’d consider Elizabeth more of a parallel to Eleanor Lamb in Bioshock 2 – a stolen child, very powerful etc. Perhaps this would make the protagonist of Bioshock 2 into Songbird. This is, of course, if we view Bioshocks 1 and 2 as part of a singular ‘Rapture Saga’ but I think it works. Sorta.

Time has nothing to do with multi-universes. The fact that Ryan went in Rapture at the 1958 (i think i cant remember) does not mean that in the other universes time is in 1958, it can be at 2000 or at 1500 so Booker is the versions in which 1918 is easier for his world to invent an floating city than an underwater city cause floating its much easier to happen than bringin air to the bottom of the ocean. For his world always.

This is exactly what I understood the theme to be. To put it into context I just thought of the movie “The One” with Jet Li. Same people (variable considering that the doctors were the same person just one male and one female from different universes), different names, different times, in different space, in different universes. I don’t understand why some people are having such a hard time understanding this concept. Elizabeth explains it multiple times throughout the course of the game. Every tear is a different possibility based on constants and variables.

The truth lies in our universe. I suggest all the Infinite gamers to gather our money and hire a squad to capture and take hostages the creators of the game and interrogate them in order to tell us their way of thinking cause i wanna sleep tonight and no search for every voxophone in Columbia for answers!!!

I don’t think that DeWitt/Comstock is exactly the same as Jack/Ryan. There are parallels, but remember that Rapture took place in another alternate universe, with its own particular set of doors. I think there are parallels in the way the story unfolds, and you can definitely look at certain characters and say: “This is similar to how this particular story unfolds” but it’s not actually the exact same.

One of my own theories is that both Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite is that they are both of meta-stories about gaming. Bioshock is about we as gamers generally follow orders that we’re given by other characters in games, essentially allowing ourselves to be willfully manipulated. This manifests as the phrase “Would you kindly?”

Bioshock Infinite is about how we play games. We enter this worlds that may or may not resemble our own. We create new identities for ourselves. In some of these games we make choices that can affect our characters. Are we going to be tyrants or saviours? Are we going to restore worlds or destroy them? Games proliferate with our multiple identities and their choices or lack of choice. And then we leave, only occassionally returning to maybe make different choices or see new paths. All of them are thousands of doors waiting for us to open them and explore.

The surface events and story that happen in both games can looked and interpreted of course! But I think Ken Levine has made some very powerful statements about our favourite hobby!

My take is that the only outcomes for Booker were to accept Baptism and become Comstock or deny it and stay Dewitt. The alternate path would be to drown during the Baptism… And basically in a world where Booker didnt leave you have another person fill Comstock’s shoes and thats Andrew Ryan.

You are right with your theory but you have to know that its always “a man a city a lighthouse” The number one thing I noticed was when you confront Ryan in Bioshock 1 Jack is a sleeper agent used by Fontaine to finally get to Ryan. thats when “would you kindly” hits you in the face. Then when your in the intense moment with Ryan he says to Jack “A man chooses a slave obeys” as you begin to beat a Andrew Ryan who has seen his death and accepted it. Now in infinite your chooses matter little because of the time theory Booker has been to Columbia many times to flip the coin. The phrase at the beginning of the game says more to fact that Booker has died come back to life and his memory’s have been shattered to the point where he can no longer know what is real or what his purpose in being in Columbia is. The lighthouse are simple tears in time that lead you into the city, Columbia when it decided to leave the union in ITS universe disappeared in the clouds. That explains the things that happen with the music and the technology used in the game. Like Ryan, Comstock says he sees the future making him a prophet. So he accepts his death not because he knows that Liz will carry out her mission(in another universe), not because he know’s that Lutece has put you up to this. “A man chooses A slave obeys” Booker is a time slave, him an Jack are simple cold blooded killers but for Jack he was made that way, Booker on the other hand is disgraced by what he saw at wounded knee so he goes to get baptised so he does not accept the baptism so he is stuck on his killing way. The reason why Booker has memory problems may be Lutece either getting multiple Bookers from other dimension an taking them to the same point of the game in which you play or Just taking your dead body back in time to where you start the game. which Booker “struggles to make memory’s where none exist” Its beautiful story telling its a sad story Booker n Jack fates are the same even in Bookers last moment He still had no choice. So in all the games a similar but different. I want to know who is Liz mom, what songbird is, and how many times has the guy been to that place…..

For your last question just count the number of coin flips on the board. I too really want to know what songbird is, I waited the entire game for a final showdown with that beast and an unveiling of what it actually is but to no avail. I was kinda disappointed.

when Elizabeth says she can see all the doors I think she is referring to the the outcomes of every choice Booker ever had to make… Like when wondering, what if I had done this or had done that, she could see every outcome and they all stemmed from the choice of Baptism. Its a butterfly effect, where there were only 3 ways to make a major impact in that scenario.

I like the direction of the idea. Just a bunch of random stuff, maybe somebody can use. The Ryan is Comstock is a fun idea to mess around with. The similarity of Ryan and Comstock killing lots of there own people can be seen by Ryan hanging his people and from the mass graves that Comstock was digging. If Rapture is spawned from Booker’s baptism, now that he has killed Comstock, doesn’t that render Bioshock 1 and 2 obsolete? (by the idea that Ryan is Comstock.) Booker DeWitt’s initials are B.D. (Big Daddy?) Hmmm. Prob meaningless idea. Booker was born in a 1874 and the the city of Rapture was completed in 1946. While the setting of Bioshock 1 was during the 1960′s. Age issues? Does this matter? Does ADAM explain how to stay young. (Going to have to play Bioshock 1 again.) Is Elizabeth dead? Anna is still alive, but you never see Elizabeth disapear at the end. It only cuts to black.

I want to agree that the similarities between the two games are just way too abundant not to be considered more. But my main thought is that Rapture no longer exists.

In the original BioShock, it’s made expressly clear that only Andrew Ryan himself can operate the Bathyspheres in the city once they’re on lockdown. They even show you a poster that its down before you even go in.

You know, I was wondering about that myself. Who was the real Big Daddy of Bioshock Infinite? Songbird? Or Booker DeWitt? if Booker, then you’ll notice that at some point, you play as a Big Daddy in each of them. Yes, technically Jack is not a Big Daddy, but he did wear the armor for a time, however short it was.

In the beginning of the game, when Booker is being taken to the first lighthouse, Rosalind says, “The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist…” Maybe that backstory is just him trying to fill in the gaps?

I realized this too and I felt it was sort of rude how they basically disregarded bioshock as an alternate universe. It sort of designifies a lot of the events of the first game when it turns out just to be another possible dimension. It was a lazy way to add depth to the ending. I expected something unique and interesting with a remote connection to Bioshock. The characters in Bioshock 1 are much more interesting than the ones in infinite.

I think that the universe is being simplified too much. In this world the only character that makes any difference at all is Booker. What about all the others? What about the Luteces? What if the Luteces go back and kill themselves before finding ways to manipulate tears? Wouldn’t that eliminate the Comstock ability to go to a Booker universe and have Booker owe him the debt that he later trades his daughter for? Wouldn’t that leave Booker to be a flawed man (debts, etc) that can still raise his daughter but never turn into Comstock because the tech to create Columbia/steal a daughter never exists either? Nor would this Booker ever be affected by a Comstock stealing his daughter because all possibilities of Comstock doing that died with the Luteces. In THAT universe there will still be A man, A city, A lighthouse but Booker will not be that man. It will be someone else’s with those constants (Jack’s for instance). In my view that explains rapture having a different timeline and different characters AND the scene at the end where there is a Booker that still has his daughter. In a universe where there is a rapture, there is an Ana and Booker growing old somewhere. I find it unfortunate that everyone goes with this “Booker has to be the one that dies” idea in the game. There’s other options unless we’re saying that in your universe no one else really exists and you are the only one that makes a difference. Like in a game, no one else is real, and nothing is rendered until you reach that area/level of the game.

But why does Booker have to die for Comstock not to exist? We already know that Comstock is the baptised Booker. Booker doesn’t HAVE to die, he can simply refuse the baptism. Comstock was not born with Booker, Comstock was born from Booker’s baptism. So Elizabeth never had to drown Booker, she just had to make him refuse the baptism.